The domestication of primary school teaching : a Brazilian study case

This thesis explores the ways in which the work of women teachers in primary schools \nin one region of Brazil has been re-defined by agents within the school itself. \nThe investigation was pursued through semi-structured interviews with 48 women \nteachers and 14 school managers working mainly in poor communities. It reflects the \nexperiences of teachers from Municipal schools in one of the developed cities: Belo Horizonte. \nInformal talks with teachers involved in activities outside classroom, other school staff such as \nsecretaries and door-keepers, and parents encountered at the school entrance (some parents \nagreed to participate in tape-recorded interviews) also provided useful information for the \nstudy. Among the secondary• material collected during the field work were visual and written \ndidactic texts used inside schools, the school files relating to discipline problems between \npupils/parents and teachers, and the school files of "Colegiado" meetings. Also inside schools, \nobservations were made of school meetings with parents; pedagogical meetings and a extraschool \nactivities such as paren& and pupils' preparation for a party and showing of a school \nvideo. A search of written material from local newspapers archived by the Teachers' Union \nrelated to teachers was conducted. Visits to, and contacts with, the Municipal Secretary of \nEducation provided material on extra-school administration. Study at the local University, with \nits extensive archive of recent studies on the history and conditions of work of women teachers \nin Brazil, in the State of Minas Gerais and specifically in the Municipal schools of Belo \nHorizonte,was a rich source of academic material for this study. \nIt is suggested that the domestication of teachers' roles has been promoted within \nschools by teachers, the school managers and others involved in school life (parents, pupils \nand other school staff). This has led to a considerable increase in the number of roles schools \nand teachers are required to fulfil in communities with serious economic and social limitations. \nIn a society where state social support is insufficient, schools provide palliative solutions for a \nrange of needs. However, as schools become increasingly involved in business other than \nformal education, teachers' roles have changed and thus are judged through a gendered filter \niii \nwhich stresses femininity over professionalism. \nWomen's acceptance of poor working conditions and their involvement in the \nimmediate social problems of pupils and local communities has been beneficial for the Brazilian \nand State governments, as well as for the local community. However, there have been negative \nconsequences for the development of better ways to teach children from these communities and \nthe status and socio-economic position of teachers themselves. The domestication of the roles \nof women in teaching has thus had long-term negative consequences for the education of the \npoor. \n